New Motorola V265 cell phone

Motorola V265 (Verizon Wireless)


ended - Thursday, May 1, 2008

Auction grade: C+

Starting bid: $25.99

Final selling price: $25.99 (Buy It Now)


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a brand new Motorola V265 cellular phone for Verizon Wireless.

As expected, the title for this auction is surprisingly short and lacking a few key words & phrases. The seller needs to include words such as "cell phone", "new", and even "camera phone".

The auction's description looks very good. I like how the seller tells us a little about the phone in what appears to be his own words before giving us the technical information that most serious cell phone buyers need to know. The technical information neatly copied from CNET, which is fine since the seller made mention of using the CNET source in the auction's description.

To help aid the buyers, the seller should have made a listing of the different cables included with this phone. It's relatively safe to assume that the standard ones are included, but you know what they say about assuming.

The other problem with this auction deals with the starting bid and shipping costs. When you put the two together, unless you live in Ohio (sales tax reference, not an education joke) you're looking at paying around $36 total. While this is still cheaper than buying the phone in a retail store, many other online retailers are offering the same brand new phone for around this same price. In other words, people are most likely not going to make a bid since it's not an online bargain that eBay is so famous for having. People expect to find deals on eBay. Taking at least $5 off of the starting bid will help gain a lot of attention and potential bids.

The other problem is that this phone is over three years old. That integrated VGA camera with its mighty 640x480 resolution may have been fine back then, but that's nothing compared to what today's camera phones can do. The target audience for this cell phone is going to be limited.

The picture of the cell phone and cables is nothing to write home about. You can see the phone
, but it's a bad angle and you cannot make out the different cables hidden behind it. The seller would have been better off using an elevated shot of the phone and cables taken out of their bags and neatly laid out next to the phone. Pictures like the one above don't get people excited about the phone. Using personal pictures is better than only using stock images, but you still need to learn how to take better pictures.

Overall, this isn't that bad of an auction, but it still has a few areas for improvement.

Lot of original trilogy Star Wars action figures

14 Original Kenner Star wars Figures


ended - Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Auction grade: D

Starting bid: $19.99

Final selling price: $19.99


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a small collection of sealed Star Wars characters from the original Star Wars trilogy. These figures were manufactured by Kenner at the height of Star Wars' main wave of popularity. My own research shows that they are all part of the Green Card version of the "Power of the Force" series.

The auction's title doesn't look bad, but I would still make some changes to have this auction appear in more search engine results pages. "Kenner" is good and "Star Wars" is always good, but I would add the word "Action" in front of "Figures" (more people will search for "action figures") and also find ways to add in other key words such as "vintage", "toy", "OT" (original trilogy), and even "lot".

The auction's description is going to need quite a bit of editing to make it easier to read and a little more professional. First of all, the large font needs to go. It may look cool if you've never listed an auction before, but it really shows the person's inexperience and inability to make good decisions. The red font is fine, but the size of the font needs to be cut in half. Unless it is one, don't make this auction look like a scam.

The next major area of correction in the description is something that I harp on for a lot of these auctions that I criticize --- spelling and grammar. This seller needs to learn how to make complete sentences and proofread what they type. Read it a few times and make sure it makes sense and sounds somewhat professional before publishing the auction.

"every ting" --- everything

"every ting you see in the 4 group lots plus as you can see" --- Yeah. It's actually one lot with three close-up pictures of some of the action figures. Not all of them in the main picture are also photographed in the other pictures.

"in the action display photo there are also an aditional Han Solo, and a Luke Skywalker in white Storm Trooper disguise" --- Perhaps it would read better if it was types something like: "As pictured, this set also includes a Luke Skywalker in a white Storm Trooper disguise and an additional Han Solo." With the seller writing it the other way around, it sounds like you're receiving both Han and Luke in their Storm Trooper disguises like they wear in Episode IV.

"all Items are new in there bubbles." --- The "A" should be capitalized instead of the "I", and also it's "their", not "there". Learn the difference!

"bene" --- been

"some one" --- someone

It's good that the seller mentioned in simple words how his uncle cut away the packaging for easier storage. That move severely devalued the action figures, but at least we know that the original packaging isn't complete.

In addition to correcting the entire text in the description, the seller should also make a bullet point listing of all of the characters and costumes in this collection. Why should somebody do that much extra work to earn the sale? Three reasons:

1) Some of the fans are looking for specific characters and that's how they search on eBay and Google (eBay listings are conveniently indexed by Google).

2) Most people want to know exactly which characters and variations are included in this auction.

3) The pictures are small and it's hard to see most of the details.

When selling items in lots, be prepared to take the extra steps to provide good, accurate pictures and descriptions. Many people have been scammed by items that were misrepresented or assumed to be in lots. Take the extra time to list the lot properly to protect yourself and aid the buyers. Don't make them guess or write you an e-mail to confirm whether or not something is included in the auction.

By making these changes and learning how to type sentences, this auction will attract more buyers. Whether or not it sells is still determined by the starting bid, shipping costs, and overall trend in the market. For an auction like this, it's also important to note that most of the serious buyers only want the action figures in their original, complete packaging. In this case the figures are still sealed and apparently brand new, but that's it.

Hubley die-cast Lockheed Electra

Twin Engine Hubley Airplane


ended - Saturday, April 26, 2008

Auction grade: B

Starting bid: $25.00

Final selling price: $37.00


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a vintage die-cast toy airplane manufactured by Hubley Manufacturing Company. Specifically, this is a Lockheed Electra from sometime in the late 1930's. It's not stated, but this actual die-cast aircraft was most likely manufactured in the late 1940's after World War 2.

Starting out, the auction's title could use some adjusting for better eBay search engine optimization. Key words such as "Lockheed", "Electra", "vintage", "model", and even "die-cast" can be added. If needed, "Twin Engine" can be replaced with a better search word or phrase. Then again, since the seller already paid for use of the subtitle, those additional key words can also go down in that part of the title. Maximize your key words and phrases to make your auction appear in as many relevant search engine results as possible.

The auction's description isn't bad. I like how the seller goes into brief detail about this die-cast model airplane. I would like to have seen the seller give us the airplane's basic measurements from nose to tail and along the wingspan. It also would have been nice if the seller could have done some research and given us the general age of the metal toy. My basic research shows that it was probably manufactured sometime in the late 1940's, but that's just my educated guess.

The other correction I would make to the description is when the seller talks about the item's overall condition. While the aircraft looks pretty good in the pictures, it still shouldn't be considered "excellent". The seller even admits it when he mentions the paint chips.

"The plane does have a few small paint chips."

Looking at the pictures, I would presume that some of the paint chips are missing, most likely from the aging process. In the pictures it looks very good, but I wouldn't go so far as calling it excellent.

The pictures are great. The seller gets extra credit from taking the time to show use lots of different angles of the aircraft with the main landing gear raised and lowered. There's just no sense of scale in either the pictures or the auction's description. Judging by the relatively low shipping cost, I would guess that the aircraft isn't that large or heavy.

Overall, a few minor changes in the title and description should bring in more potential buyers. I'm a little bit mixed about the starting bid. If this aircraft really is rare and in excellent condition, the actual value of it would probably be three or four times the price of the starting bid. That's another reason why the seller needs to do a little more research and sell the idea of this being a very old and antique collectible item.

Conair personal groomer / trimmer

CONAIR


ended - Friday, April 25, 2008

Auction grade: B-

Starting bid: $0.99

Final selling price: $0.99


Up for sale in this eBay auction is an electronic personal groomer made by Conair.

The worst part of this auction deals with the auction's title. Just the manufacturer isn't going to cut it (pun intended) to draw in bidders searching for an item like this. Remember that by using the default search settings the buyers are only able to search through the different titles. You have to manually check a box that says you want to search through the titles and descriptions.

"Conair" itself is a good keyword. Anybody looking for that company's products while searching for just that name will find this auction. The problem is that it's harder for people looking for general grooming devices and other hand-held electronic devices to find this particular auction. Other good key words would be "electronic", "beard", "mustache", "trimmer", "electronic", and even "grooming device". Use those key words and phrases to your advantage and try to draw in more potential buyers.

The auction's description and pictures look great. I like how this seller listed all of the technical information and sales points in an easy to ready style and font. The only issue with that method is that it makes this seller look like a dealer. Whether or not that's true, the seller's other auctions (only about five total) have that similar look and feel to them. If this is a dealer, I would expect more than two feedback points for somebody who has been registered at eBay since August of last year.

The seller may want to make a note at the top of the auction and say for a fact if this is still new in the box. The item's condition says "new" and the stock photos are meaningless for showing us this exact item's condition. If it's still sealed in the original box, then that's another strong selling point and it needs to be made clear in the description.

The stock pictures look excellent and the low starting bid should definitely entice some bidders to place a bid on the item. I also like how the seller gives the buyers a couple of different shipping options. All of the prices are a little on the high side, but that's not much of a concern if somebody wins this auction for a really low prices. Professional trimmers like this usually cost around $40-70 in most stores.

Overall, this is a sharp and well created auction. My only main problem is with its title and lack of key words. With the title being the most important part of the auction here at eBay, it also weighs the most in my scoring system.

baseball card & autograph listing

RYAN HOWARD CARD+FREE PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES AUTOGRAPHS?


ended - Thursday, April 24, 2008

Auction grade: F

Starting bid: $0.99

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a 2008 Topps baseball card for Ryan Howard. Basic internet research tells us that he plays for the Philadelphia Phillies. Also included with this card, and the main selling point of this auction, is a listing of player's names and home addresses, implying that if you send them a card then they will autograph it and send it back to you.

To start the criticism, the auction's title could use a bit of work. The seller needs to decide on the main item for sale and focus on marketing that item exclusively. Seeing all of the text in the auction's description, I'd guess that the seller is really pushing for people to buy his listing of player's names and addresses. After all, it's virtually free for him to send out e-mails with that kind of information whereas baseball cards are physical items and need to be shipped.

If the seller were to focus on the actual autograph listings themselves, then key words such as "autograph", "sports", "baseball", "football," and even a few key players' names could be included. Put yourself into the shoes of a buyer and try to use different key words to try to find your auction. See which words are more common than others, and in those searches see how high your auction ranks in the various search listings.

The first time I read through the auction's description, the word "scam" came to my mind. Here's a person using a large font with all capital letters, lots of spacing, and horrible grammar trying to sell us the idea of writing to current and former players and asking for autographs. The concept is simple and from the sound of things anybody can do it and have success doing so. It sounds too good to be true.


Let's take a look at a few examples from this seller's sales pitch.


"YOU ARE LOOKING AT A 2008 TOPPS RYAN HOWARD CARD, IF GRADED I THINK WOULD GET A 8 OR BETTER" - Actually, no we're not. The picture shows other sports cards and this is the only point in the auction that the Ryan Howard card is even mentioned (besides in the title). It's not even clear if it has been autographed or not. What is known is that the card has not been authenticated by anybody, whether it has been signed or not.

"WANT FREE AUTOGRAPHS?,"

"THE WINNER OF THIS ITEM WILL GET A RAMS ADDRESS LIST" - St. Louis Rams? The title talks about the Phillies.

"IM SURE YOU TRIED YOUR LUCK PULLING AUTO'S FROM THOSE 5 AND 10 DOLLAR PACKS AND ENDING UP WITH A JOHN DOE OR NOTHING AT ALL,"

"THE AUTOGRAPHS YOU SEE AINT FOR SELL, JUST TO SHOW YOU WHAT YOU CAN GET THROUGH THE MAIL," - Ahh, yes. It's so easy, anybody can do it!

"THE 1ST WAS SIGNED BY 11 DIFF NFL HOFERS, 2 HAS PASSED AWAY MAKING THIS CARD EVEN MORE RARE,"

"I BEEN COLLECTING THROUGH THE MAIL FOR YEARS AND AND HAVE OBTAINED MORE THEN 2,000 AUTOGRAPHS AND HAD MANY NAMES PSA/DNA CERIFIED"

"WHEN WRITEING TO PLAYERS, BE SURE TO INCLUDE A SELF ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOP, MOST WONT BOTHER WITH YOUR REQUEST WITH OUT IT"

"USE THE BUY IT NOW AND ILL THROW IN ANOTHER LIST OF YOUR CHOOSE"


So there we go. Between the seller's horrible grammar, weird & non-standard abbreviations, inability to form complete sentences, "get rich quick" mentality, and "bait and switch" tactic with using items not for sale in the picture, this auction is in dire need of a makeover to get rid of that scam feeling. Right now it's hard to take this seller seriously.

It's obvious in this auction that the seller is really pushing for you to go along and buy several more of his autograph lists. It's almost pure profit for him to sell them since he claims that he just e-mails them right after he receives your hard-earned money. And with only twenty-one players on the listing, I'm sure the seller has many extra listings that he's eager to sell.

If this was my auction, I would concentrate on selling that Ryan Howard card first (including having a picture of the actual card and making it clear whether or not it has been autographed), and then sell people on the idea of writing to players and asking for autographs. If the seller would rather sell the concept of autograph collecting, then that should be the primary item in this auction instead of the card.

The seller has the right idea with that item combination idea, but the execution is bad. I can see where people might be confused and think that real autographed cards are included in this auction. Then again, some people will read only what they want to read (such as just the title in this auction) and place a bid without knowing everything.

In addition to fixing the picture and all of the text associated with this auction, the shipping fee is way too high for just a baseball card. At least one person made a note about paying the $3.50 fee for something that was just stuck in an envelope. If you're going to sell us the idea that mailing cards to and from former players is so cheap, you could at least extend the same courtesy to the buyers and not rip them off with those shipping charges. This is especially true if the seller e-mails the player address listing instead of sending out a printed copy.

I'm not going to even mention the flaws with buying this card and address listing, hoping to strike it rich with autographs. This blog is only dedicated to actual auctions and the seller's methodology. It's up to the buyers to figure out if this will really work or not.

For an extra laugh, check out the seller's comments in response to buyers' feedback messages. It's always tempting to give buyers sarcastic answers, but his method doesn't quite have the same ring to it.


NOTE TO SELLER --- If you're going to write a snappy answer, you may want to check your own spelling & grammar skills first to avoid confusion as to which one is the dumber person. You may have also noticed by now that it's harder to make certain words stand out for effect when everything is typed in capital letters! On a final note, there are keys on the keyboard called apostrophes. You may want to start using them at some point.

1 gb mp3 player

Mp3 Multimedia Player 1GB Green


ended - Wednesday, April 23, 3008

Auction grade: D-

Starting bid: $4.87

Final selling price: $5.50


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a small, portable mp3 player. Not a whole lot of information is given about this particular mp3 player.

For starters, the title could use a little extra work. Key words such as "music" and "songs" would definitely help this show up in more search results. Also, if this is made by a known manufacturer, then that should also go into the title. If need be, the word "multimedia" can be removed as it's a less popular search term.

The auction's description is very short and doesn't tell us anything about the item for sale.

"Very nice mp3 player. Comes in a neat little case with the connecting cables, earphones etc."

Why go through the effort and cost of trying to sell something on eBay if you're not going to tell us about it?

The auction's description is your time to shine as a seller. This is your sales pitch. You've done the hard part and gotten somebody to click on the auction, and now it's your job to sell them on the item and finish the sale. Don't leave them hanging and wanting more information like this. This particular example shows a seller's lazy approach to trying to make a sale.

So what do you do if you don't know anything about the item for sale?

For starters, write down whatever is on the box. If the box mentions roughly how many songs will fit on the player, then make a note of it in the auction. Don't assume that your customers are totally up-to-date on the latest technology trends. If the box doesn't have any solid information, check out the manufacturer's website and look for information there. If that doesn't work then see what other online retailers are saying about the item.

For this mp3 player, we, the buyers, know practically nothing about it. The title says that it has a one gigabite hard drive and another part of the auction has it labeled as being new, but that's it. We don't know the manufacturer, which exact cables come with it, or even how long it lasts on average with a charged battery.

The stock photo doesn't exactly give us much information either.

What strikes me as being surprising is that this auction is being sold by an eBay PowerSeller. A person who should know about selling and how to market items properly has an auction this poorly constructed.

Overall, this auction gives me the impression of a seller trying to sell a cheap, knock-off mp3 player on an unsuspecting person. The bad stock picture, low starting bid, and lack of information all lead to that conclusion. If the seller is trying to sell an honest electronic device that performs and lasts just as long as the major competitor's models, then he needs to make a better effort at actually trying to sell the mp3 player.

Atlanta Braves sling bag

NEW ATLANTA BRAVES BAG SLING BACKPACK SHOULDER CAP HAT


ended - Saturday, April 19, 2008

Auction grade: C-

Starting bid: $27.99

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a brand new Atlanta Braves baseball sling bag / shoulder bag.

Looking at the title, the seller has the right idea with using key words like that. This particular item is virtually guaranteed to show up in a variety of different searches that people may use. The only major problem (despite this being in all capital letters) is that the seller mentions "cap" and "hat". This auction is only for the shoulder bag and no hats are included. That's false advertising right there.

The auction's description looks pretty good. The pictures are clear and allow the buyers to see the details and features of this sling bag, while the different aspects of the auction are in their own easy to read sections. It's good how the seller listed the bag's basic dimensions. The only adjustments I would make here would be to proofread each section and fine tune the spacing and punctuation to make this look more professional.

This seller's feedback policy is one of the more common ones. Basically, this is an automated version that automatically sends the buyer positive feedback once the buyer leaves the seller positive feedback. This is fine since the amount of positive feedback weighs more than what people actually say in the feedback. Like other sellers, this one warns that if you leave them negative feedback without trying to resolve the problem first, then you'll also receive negative feedback. The sellers have the right to somewhat protect themselves against unreasonable and unkind buyers. Of course, it will no longer be possible for sellers to leave buyers neutral or negative feedback starting next month.

In my personal opinion, I believe this seller is too greedy in the starting bid and shipping costs. Something as compact like this that is being advertised as a "light weight" item shouldn't cost $9.95 for shipping. The high starting bid will discourage many people from placing a bid.

Overall, this is a pretty good auction that uses the right ideas and strategies. The main reason for such a low score is with the false advertising in the title. False hope is no way to get people to click on the auction.

Roll of old wheat pennies

FOUND - OLD ROLL OF WHEATS FOUND IN BANK LOCK BOX!L@@K


ended - Friday, April 18, 2008

Auction grade: D

Starting bid: $4.00

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is an old roll of wheat pennies from the 1910's through the 1950's.

The title for this auction is horrible. People who use the default search settings are going to have a very hard time finding this particular auction of old coins. Instead of telling us where you found the coins, you need to instead be talking about the coins themselves. The title only gives you so much room to work with, and you need to fill it with as many relevant key words and phrases as possible.

For this auction, good key words in the title would be "coins", "pennies", "old", "wheat", "roll", "undiscovered" and even "vintage". Stick with words like that first before wasting the remainder of the available space with things like "L@@K".

The extremely large font used in the auction's description needs to be lowered. Using all capital letters is the equivalent to having a person shout at you in person. Using all caps with a font this large is like somebody standing in front of you and using a bullhorn to talk. It's very annoying and gives you the appearance of trying to scam a person. It's also insulting to the buyers.

The actual text in the auction looks pretty good. It's fine how the seller says how he found the coins, and it's also good that he mentioned some of the different decades for the pennies. However, previous customer feedback implies that not every roll of pennies that this guy sells will include coins from the decades that are listed.

"WE TRY TO PROVIDE ROLLS OF QUALITY TO ARE BUYERS."

This sentence says it all.

This stock picture of some of the pennies needs to be replaced with a real picture of the exact roll of pennies for sale in this auction. Buyers are going to be disappointed and will leave negative feedback if their coins don't look exactly like the ones in the picture (condition wise). I've seen it happen many times.

Finally, the last item of concern in this auction is the handling time and the fact that the seller only ships the items one day each week.

"HANDLING TIME WILL BE 4 BUSINESS DAYS. ALL
ORDERS WILL SHIP ON A THUR OF EVERY WEEK"

If you're trying to pass yourself off as a real eBay seller, you really need to find a way to ship your items two or even three days a week. Seeing how the postal service doesn't operate on Sundays, most people are going to have to wait at least an extra four days after the item is shipped before they'll receive it. I hate unnecessary delays in receiving my items as much as the next buyer. Do them a favor and make an effort to put the items in the mail faster.

Overall, this seller needs to make a few title and appearance adjustments if he wants to become a more professional and respected eBay seller.

Novelty Pepsi folding knife

HERE A NEW PEPSI NOVELTY KNIFE


ended - Thursday, April 17, 2008

Auction grade: C-

Starting bid: $0.99

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a small novelty folding knife with the Pepsi logo and slogan "The Choice of a New Generation".

The auction's title needs a lot of attention. Apart from being in all capital letters, this is also not nearly descriptive enough considering the age of this particular knife. A quick internet search for that slogan shows that it was first used by Pepsi back in 1984. Appropriate key words for the title would be "vintage", "classic", "1980s", and even "New Generation".

The seller has the right idea in the auction's description, just poor execution in its layout. I like how the seller described this knife and gave its dimensions, but the one giant sentence needs to be fixed. Adding in a few periods will make this auction a lot easier to read and understand.

"HANDEL" --- handle

The auction's picture isn't bad and you can clearly see the Pepsi logo and slogan on the knife. My only problem is that you can also see the seller's hand and all of the wrinkles to go with it. Next time place the knife on a table or towel and take the picture. Also, you may want to partially extend the blade so we can see it in the picture.

The final note to address in this auction is the extremely high shipping fee that the seller is charging. Those plastic novelty knives are very light weight and don't cost much to ship across the country. Seeing that the seller is based in Illinois and towards the center of the country, it should only cost a dollar or two to send it anywhere in the lower 48 states.

The main problem with this auction is that the seller is trying to force a profit for himself for a cheap item. Ripping off the buyers with extremely high shipping costs is not the way to do that. You'll only discourage them from clicking on the link to even view the item for sale.

When selling a cheap item like this on eBay, don't get discouraged if it doesn't sell for a high price. Most of those old novelty items still aren't worth much today unless you have something that is rare and in demand. Otherwise, expect to make almost nothing for a sale like this. This is still a good item to sell for two main reasons: 1) even a simple sale with no profit can increase your feedback score and possibly lead to more future sales, and 2) if you don't want to sell it individually, this could be offered along with another item or two as part of a package deal or freebie.

R2D2 statue / toy / model / robot

R2D2


ended - Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Auction grade: F-

Starting bid: $6.99

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a model / toy / robot R2D2 from the famous Star Wars movies. I honestly have no idea for the purpose of this particular version of R2 as the seller doesn't say much about its features.

For starters, the auction's title doesn't give us any hints. By only saying "R2D2", the seller is cutting himself out of most searches for people interested in similar items. By not adding any key words or phrases about the item the seller is already setting himself up for failure. Any words or descriptions about this item or his role in the Star Wars movies would work well in the title.

The auction's description has "sketchy seller" written all over it. It's a bad sign that the first text you see in the description is the seller telling us about the shipping charges and how this is for serious bidders only and the fact that he has the right to retract any bids from new bidders or bidders with negative feedback.

After the text about seller telling us on what he wants in a buyer (funny, I thought it was supposed to be the other way around) the seller throws in a brief sentence about the actual item for sale.

"This R2D2 is approx. 7” to 8” tall and 3” to 4” inches across. He is battery operated and seems to be in good shape."

So here we have rough dimensions from seller more concerned about protecting himself than actually selling a product on eBay. Now we know that this is a battery operated toy and is apparently in good shape. It's too bad the picture shows the item covered in dirt and generally looking like something he found in the garbage.

After this continues a lot more text about the seller making excuses for himself and giving us buyers more rules and expectations.

"I describe my items to the best of my ability, but I am not an expert on any of the items I sell."

How hard is it to describe a toy? This seller has a hard enough problem giving us an exact measurement on the item's height and width. We also know that the seller is hiding something from us in this auction. The seller told us that this is battery operated, yet he didn't mention actually testing it and letting us know what this can do when it's powered. Despite that the seller claimed that this is in "good condition" despite looking like crap in the picture. A mechanical item like this being in "good condition" implies that it works correctly when you insert the batteries and turn it on.

So therefore: A) the seller tried it and couldn't get it to work (otherwise its features would have been mentioned), or B) the seller didn't try it and is implying that it works just so he can get the sale. Either way the seller is not being descriptive enough in the auction.

"I just find really cool stuff at great prices and sell them on EBay."

This backs up statement "B" from above. This is proof that the seller just wants to make a quick sale. This is also a case where you're giving the buyers too much information. Never use a statement like that in your description!

"All sales are final"

Buyer beware.

"Do to a few EBayer’s who think its funny to receive a great deal on merchandise then slam the seller for no reason we ask that you leave us feedback first."

Aside from the numerous grammar errors, this isn't the best approach to take when dealing with feedback. Again, this shows how this particular seller is more concerned about himself and making the quick sale and keeping a good feedback rating rather than giving the customer a positive experience. This excuse will be invalid once eBay starts their "seller cannot give buyers negative feedback" policy.

"We ship fast, pack well, and over communicate."

I guess "over communicate" does not include telling us more about the actual item for sale. So far in this description we've had many of the seller's policies shoved down our throats, but very little about the seller actually trying to sell us this item.

In addition to everything above, the seller is still trying to hide something else from us buyers. In a statement about shipping, the seller mentions that sometimes items still get damaged in transit because of the shipping company. It's a rare event but has happened a few times to him in the past ("2 OUT OF OVER 1100" to be exact). For a person who has shipped over a thousand items to online customers, why is it that this seller only has a positive feedback rating of twelve? The seller's information shows that he has been selling on eBay with this account since only December 7, 2007 (Pearl Harbor, coincidence?).

The seller's unnecessarily detailed information about protecting himself tells us that either A) this is a brand new seller who just copied another seller's information (and did a sloppy job at that, too), or B) this seller has been here before and been burned by a few things, but is basically starting over with a new account and trying to keep the past hidden. This practice does happen on all of the major online auction websites and stores.

So after reading little about the item and going through all of the seller's other statements, are you, the buyer, still willing to make a bid on this item? Probably not.

If the seller actually wants to make sales and keep customers happy, then he needs to change his attitude and approach to selling on eBay. Focus on selling the item first and then selling yourself as a seller second. Don't give buyers a list of demands and expectations even before they know about the product. You'll just turn them away and waste time and money in the process.

Las Vegas Four Queens glass decoration

Neat Glass Laser Cube of 4 Queens Building in L.Vegas


ended - Sunday, April 13, 2008

Auction grade: B

Starting bid: $9.95

Final selling price: $9.95


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a neat little glass cube decoration of the Four Queens hotel & casino in the famous downtown section of Las Vegas.

The auction's title needs some adjusting to help draw in more potential bidders.

First of all, the seller needs to spell out "Four Queens" and "Las Vegas". Those keys words are just too important to leave abbreviated like they are in the title.

If this was my auction, I would take out the words "neat", "cube", "of", "building", and "in". The prepositions are just filler and can stay in the title if there's still room, but the others can go. Instead, focus on adding better key words such as "decoration" and "casino".

The auction's description isn't bad. I like how the seller mentioned the decoration being of the downtown Las Vegas hotel and casino, and I also like that he gave its rough dimensions. For the most part, the only other piece of information that I would like to know would be the age of this glass cube. Are these cubes still available for purchase, or where they discontinued years ago?

Overall, this isn't that bad of an auction. The picture is good considering these items are hard to photograph. Changing the title should help bring in some bids, but if that doesn't work the seller may want to lower the starting bid by a dollar or two.

Retro Kellogg's snack plates

NEW 2 VINTAGE KELLOGG RICE KRISPIES SNACK PLATES


ended - Friday, April 11, 2008

Auction grade: C+

Starting bid: $8.99

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a pair of retro-style Kellogg's Rice Krispies snack plates.

Despite being in all capital letters, the auction's title looks pretty good. All of the major key words are there and this auction should show up in quite a few different searches. The seller may want to change "KELLOGG" to "Kelloggs" (more people will search for it this way), and also find a way to sneak in the word "retro".

Technically this isn't a vintage set of plates (as the seller states in the description, they were released back in 2005), but rather vintage-style or retro.

The auction's description is adequate. The seller isn't very elaborate and only uses very simple sentences and sentence fragments, but the important notes are there. By not being elaborate and creative with the wording, the seller is missing out on potential key words and phrases that other people may use when searching for items. It would be helpful to know if the plates are plastic or ceramic.

The picture of the snack plates looks good. We can clearly see the retro design and it appears that the plates are in good condition.

The major problem with this auction is that the seller is being too greedy with the high starting bid and shipping costs. Google's product comparison shows us that online stores are selling the same retro plate (some even have it with bowl and mug combination packages) for similar or cheaper prices.

Remember that unless you have a rare or high in demand item, don't expect to make a fortune selling it on eBay or other online auction sites. Most people are there to bargain hunt, and if they can find the item for a cheaper price elsewhere, then that's where they'll go.

GI Joe aircraft carrier - USS Saratoga

GI Joe USS Saratoga Air Craft Carrier Military MINT


ended - Thursday, April 10, 2008

Auction grade: B+

Starting bid: $25.00

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a vintage GI Joe USS Saratoga toy aircraft carrier from the 1980's.

The title isn't bad and the seller has the right idea of using relevant key words, but some changes still need to be made.

First, "Air Craft" needs to be together in one word. It's an "aircraft" carrier, and that's how most people are going to search for that item.

Second, this may be in excellent condition, but the seller shouldn't use that exclusive "mint" term for an item that has been used. It's not even mentioned if this comes with the original box.

The problem is that on eBay and other online stores, mint is used to describe the highest state of perfection with an item. Those are items that are still sealed in their original factory packages and haven't been touched or used by another person. This can still be used to describe items where it's absolutely necessary to remove the item from the box just to take a picture.

Since this auction is labeled as "used", the seller can use similar phrases such as "excellent", "perfect", and "like-mint", but not "mint" by itself. Save that term for unopened and unused items.

Again, throughout the auction's description the seller keeps mentioning that it's in mint condition. It may be in perfect working order and in excellent condition, but it's not mint. Sorry. Again, like in the title, the seller needs to refer to this as an "aircraft" carrier, not "air craft".

I like how the seller mentioned the manufacturer and the overall dimensions, but this description would look and read a lot easier if it wasn't a mass of sentence fragments. Use a little spacing and make this neater and easier to read.

"moving satellites" --- The seller is most likely referring to the various radar dishes and other antenna on top of the aircraft carrier. I doubt that this carrier has any orbiting objects out in space.

Overall, this auction looks pretty good, and a few minor changes will help bring in extra potential buyers and help with the overall accuracy.

Like every other boy back in the 80's, I used to play with GI Joe action figures, too. I had a few of the larger aircraft including the Cobra Night Raven , Tomahawk, Cobra Condor Z-25, and later the massive Mobile Command Center and Crusader Space Shuttle with Avenger Scout Craft (my personal favorite.) It was always hard to compete with that spoiled kid down the street with the USS Saratoga in his basement (forgot his name as it was 20 years ago and when we lived in a different state). My Mobile Command Center was pretty cool, but it wasn't added to my collection until later when we found it accidentally marked down too much in a store ($20 instead of the usual $80+). This makes me wonder how many of those toys and other 1980's action figure playsets are still sitting in various boxes in the attic at my parent's house.

Charleton Heston autographed photo

Charlton Heston Signed 8x10 Autographed Signed COA Auth


ended - Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Auction grade: C-

Starting bid: $149.99

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is an autographed photo of the late Hollywood legend on and off the screen - Charlton Heston. The seller claims that this is a genuine autographed photo and comes with a certificate of authenticity.

The auction's title looks pretty good except that the seller said "signed" twice. One of those needs to be replaced with "photo" to help draw in more shoppers.

A more amusing note with this auction deals with its subtitle:

"Guaranteed authentic for life !!!!!!"

Unless they are destroyed or were originally signed with a pencil, autographs aren't known for fading or expiring. So therefore one would conclude that autographs that are declared to be authentic would automatically be authentic until it's no longer visible.

The auction's description needs to be rewritten so it looks more professional. Looking at the large font, all capital letters and misspellings, it's obvious that the seller quickly created this auction after hearing about the actor's death.

While I'm not going to criticize the seller for trying to profit on news about the actor (that's how many quick thinking sellers make a lot of money on eBay), I can and will criticize the auction for its poor look and layout.

The large font with all capital letters is annoying and an insult to fans of the actor and other sellers. It shows that this seller doesn't care about typing properly or taking the time to do things the right way.

"PLANET OF TEH APPES" --- Planet of the Apes

If you're going to mention some of his films, don't stop at just two films. Go for better search engine results and also mention other movies such as Ben-Hur, Midway, Earthquake, The Greatest Show on Earth, and even The Omega Man. Take the extra minute and do it right.

The other good parts of this auction deal with the actual photo and shipping charges. The picture clearly shows Charleston Heston and the autograph at the bottom of the picture. The free shipping is a nice add-on.

Personally, I believe this seller is being too greedy in the starting bid price. $149.99 seems too high considering: A) there are lots of other autographed photos and memorabilia now available, and B) apart from the autograph there's nothing special about this picture. Seeing the overly high starting bid and poor layout of the auction, this one almost needs that four letter "S" word as a warning. You know the word. SC_M.

Model railroad dummy engine

N SCALE GP 38 DUMMY MINT NEW IN BOX SOUTHERN PACIFIC


ended - Saturday, April 5, 2008

Auction grade: B

Starting bid: $0.99

Final selling price: $0.99


Up for sale in this eBay auction is an N scale dummy train engine for use with model railroads. The seller claims that the engine is in mint condition and new in the box.

For model railroads, the N scale is the second smallest size of trains that people will build and have running around their home. The trains and scenery pieces are roughly 160th the size of their real life counterparts. This is ideal for people who have a limited amount of space but still want to enjoy this hobby, or those who want to build large and elaborate train sets without it completely taking over their home.

The auction's title needs some adjusting to help draw in more potential customers. Aside from not typing in all capital letters, the seller can also remove the "NEW IN BOX" part and just replace it with the common abbreviation NIB. Being in all caps with the rest of the title, "NEW IN BOX" isn't going to catch the person's eye, and most people won't search for that phrase when looking for more train parts. NIB or just "new" will work fine in its place.

In addition with that, the seller needs to find a way to add "train", "engine", and even "railroad" as key words in the auction's title. Remember that the default way of searching on eBay is just by looking at the titles, so you want to take advantage and have your listing exposed to as many relevant searches as possible. It doesn't cost you extra, and the more people that find your auction then the more likely you'll get a few bids.

The auction's description also needs to be rewritten. The bold print in all caps with unusual spacing needs to go. The seller did a good job listing information about the engine, but this looks very sloppy and unprofessional. Information about the engine itself should go in the first paragraph (or by using bullet points), and general information about model railroads should go into a second or even third paragraph, depending on your knowledge and experience on the subject matter.

Apart from fixing the title and description, the rest of the auction looks pretty good. The picture of the engine looks very good and I like how the seller added detailed information in the "item specifics" section of the auction.

eBay picture taking equipment

TAKE GREAT PICTURES FOR eBay ~ PHOTO TAKING EQUIPMENT


ended - Friday, April 4, 2008

Auction grade: C-

Starting bid: $85.00

Final selling price: $88.95 (Buy It Now)


Up for sale in this eBay auction is some equipment to help take better, more professional pictures for online auctions. This includes a camera stand, two external lights, and an "item box".

The title that the seller is using is interesting, but it would still benefit from adding another key word or two. "pictures" and "photo" are fine, but the seller could still mention "digital camera" or just "camera" even though a camera is not included in this auction. A camera is required to use the equipment, so it's valid mentioning it in the title to help with the search engine results.

The item's description is neat, orderly, and easy to read, as you would expect from an eBay PowerSeller. Each item is described by itself, and the different colors give this auction flair. It's the seller's personal comments where I have my problems.

"Increase your sales, and your dollar amounts by taking better pictures - gair-on-teed!"

So if I write crappy titles, have horrible descriptions, and set unreasonable starting bids and shipping costs, I'll still increase my sales and dollar amounts by taking pictures with this equipment? If so, can I have that "gair-on-tee" in writing?

"Lighting is one of the main keys to success - background is the other. This unit provides professional results with minimal effort!"

Not exactly.

One of the real keys to success is to be able to find and capture the best angle(s). By the usage of forced perspective you can make items look larger than life and more exciting than just by using standard angles. Being able to properly present the item in the picture is more important than the lighting or background.

Check out more photography tips here.

"This unit will become a useful tool for all your auctions or online endeavors."

It probably is useful, but not if you are trying to sell items larger than 16x16x16 inches. Anything roughly larger than a pair of shoes (excluding the box) will need to be photographed some other way.

If such a tool is so powerful and critical for selling anything on eBay, I wonder how the seller managed to get a picture of the display model for this auction. When opened and spread apart, the entire display and additional lights and tripod is certainly a lot larger than 16x16x16 inches.

On a side note, the seller should mention that the camera in the picture is not included in this auction. Buyers can and will legally complain and demand a full refund if they don't receive a camera with the rest of the items. The same is true for the car in the picture.

Any time you include extra items in the picture and they are not included in the auction, you need to make it clear in the description that it's not included. It's considered fraud if you don't.

"Place your bid now before you forget, then set it on auto pilot until auction end - then check back to be sure you win t.he item."

A) Why place a bid and go through that process when the Buy It Now is only $4 more?

B) I'm sure other sellers would also like you to immediately place a bid before doing any external research.

C) Nice grammar.

Along with the seller's over-hyping of the photo equipment and the fact that not even a basic (a.k.a. cheap) digital camera is not included, I'll be very surprised if anybody places a bid for this auction. $85 + $14.95 is a lot of money considering you still need a camera and know how to take good pictures and write auction titles and descriptions that market and sell the item.

I gave this auction a low score because of not providing a disclaimer about the camera and car (very important) and for over-hyping the ability of this equipment. Just by using it you will not instantly become the next PowerSeller and make a fortune selling items on eBay. This is also overpriced considering its size limitations and lack of camera.

LOT of magic tricks

Lot, Tricks restaurant magician's magic kit. Jim pace,


ended - Thursday, April 3, 2008

Auction grade: C+

Starting bid: $25.00

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a small collection of various books and magic tricks for those who like to entertain others, ideally in the restaurant environment.

First of all, the title definitely needs some adjusting. "Tricks" should go right after the word "magic" (catch people looking for either: "magic", "tricks", or "magic tricks"). Jim Pace might be better off left in the description and have more useful search words go into the title. "Illusions" could also go into the title, eliminating the need for the auction's subtitle.

Using a subtitle is a good way of catching somebody's attention and adding a few extra key words, but there isn't much use for it in this example. All of the key words could easily have been added to the auction's title, and with this being a relatively low cost auction, the money spent on the subtitle could have been saved or spent on another auction.

For the description, I like the seller's attempt to try to sell us the products. He gives us examples on how he used the products himself to entertain people and leave them guessing and wanting more of the action. I like that part. It adds value and desirability to the items for sale. However, there are still problems that need to be corrected in the auction's description.

The first issue deals with the general flow of the words. The entire text is one giant paragraph where he jumps from one topic to another. This would be much easier to read and follow if it was broken apart into separate paragraphs or even bullet points.

If this seller wants to appear to be more professional, it would help if he would correct the numerous spelling and grammar errors throughout the description. It's obvious that he typed everything all at once and didn't bother to do any proofreading.

"The restaurant workers handbook by Jim pace" --- "The Restaurant Worker's Handbook" by Jim Pace.

"Beat,em Cheat,em and leave them bleedin" --- "Beat'Em, Cheat'Em, Leave'Em Bleedin'"

"alot" --- a lot (allot is a verb)

"Needle through ballon" --- Needle Through Balloon

"Comedy square knot" --- Comedy Square Knot


"To buy all this great magic fortheprice l $78.75" --- Ummm, yeah.


Those are just some of the specific problems in the description. Other problems include numerous run-on sentences and generally disorganized thoughts.

It's interesting how the seller was able to list supposedly retail prices for the items in this lot. Reading his biography, it turns out that this seller used to own a small magic shop. Could it be that the "retail" prices were actually the higher than average prices he might have used in the store, therefore making it look like this is a great bargain?

I myself am a fan of magic and the world of illusions. I know that most of the equipment and props sold in stores is generally very expensive and overpriced, and the real way to save money is by shopping online. Also, because of the availability of information on the internet, it's possible to find out how to do many magic tricks for free, thus lowering the demand and value for actual books and DVDs on the subject manner.

Even if the seller were to redo the auction's title and description to bring in more potential buyers, I'll be surprised if anybody places a bid. The $9 shipping charge is on the upper limit of being reasonable, but the $25 starting bid is a bit high to entice buyers to click the bid button.